


The Heat of the Moment

by joufancyhuh



Series: Queen & Lionheart [6]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Leather & Lace, Mentions of Baeyes, Mentions of past Reyder, Non-Pathfinder sibling, Restraints, Reyes Vidal is a bad person, Rough Kissing, Seduction, Sibling Rivalry, Strong Language, Tying someone up, dark au, mentions of drug addiction, mentions of drug dealing, mentions of drug use, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 04:42:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13710060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joufancyhuh/pseuds/joufancyhuh
Summary: A friend of an enemy makes Bain Massani an enemy. Ryder goes after him in an act of revenge.





	The Heat of the Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Leather & Lace Day 6: Enemies to Lovers
> 
> Who better to represent enemies to lovers than Max & Bain? 
> 
> Can I just say that I'm real real happy with how this turned out? Even if I tried to get them to have sex and Bain refused to play ball? 
> 
> I know I allude to a lot of things in this series that haven't been written yet, so if you have questions, ask them.

“Got a job for you if you think you can handle it, Little Duck.”

Max glanced to her sister, sitting behind the wheel of the Nomad. “Little Duck?” The voice sounded familiar, something that set her nerves on edge as Viv spared a glance to her twin and shrugged.

“Some kett-hunter. Bain Something or other.” Into the comm, she radioed, “Send it my way.”

Bain. Max knew that name. Worse, that name registered a face, one that explained why the voice caused such revulsion in her subconscious. Max grabbed the comm before Viv could stop her. “Bain Fucking Massani, you’re dead fucking meat when I find you.”

She jumped to her feet, ignoring her sister’s protests and Vetra’s yelling as she threw back the latch to the door and leapt out, using the jets to soften her landing as the Nomad screeched to a halt a few yards away. “Max, what the actual fuck?!” Viv screamed in her ear.

Max took off sprinting as soon as her feet hit ground, racing away from her fuming sister and into cover. She ignored her as another voice cut in; the slow, steady drawl of Bain’s voice on her private channel. “Ah, Maxine. I wondered when our paths would cross again.”

“Stop hiding, Massani,” she growled, ducking into a nearby cave right as the Nomad drove past. Max shut off the Pathfinder channel. She was done playing good guy anyway, not that Viv did much better. No more atrocities in the her sister’s name. Consider this her resignation. Max had her own goals in Andromeda, and number one was payback to Reyes or Lucas or whatever the fuck his name was. That included the fucker’s allies.

That included Bain Massani.

“Who’s hiding?” An email pinged her omni-tool. “I’ve sent you my coordinates.”

“How do I know this isn’t a trap?” That was far too easy. Max was slow to trust to begin with, but this? She counted the rounds in her gun, checking for the knife in her belt, her brass knuckles in her bra under her armor. With Bain down, that hit a blow to the Collective, to their jackass of a leader. She saw them together, she knew he and Reyes had some sort of relationship, even if just business professional.

“No doubt this is some sort of twisted revenge for what happened with Reyes. I don’t want to kill you, but I will defend myself.” The man sounded calm, amused even, igniting more anger within her.

“Fuck you and fuck him.”

“If it matters to you in any way, I tried to convince him he took things too far.”

She rolled her eyes, waiting for the Nomad to pass once more before darting out toward a small oasis with some rocks for her to duck behind. “Trying to save your fucking hide already. Nothing you can say at this point changes anything.”

“Then I’ll save my breath.” The comm snapped off, no doubt leaving Vivian screaming into the void on the empty Pathfinder channel.

Max wondered if she should tell her sister her choice, tell her exactly where she could shove her righteous attitude and that Max was done fucking around with her. She didn’t know who Vivian was anymore, but her twin wasn’t the same person who left the Milky Way galaxy. Wasn’t that how Reyes got to Max in the first place? All problems lead back to the younger twin now Pathfinder.

The Nomad didn’t circle back again, leaving Max the opportunity to dart to the next cliff outcropping, still cautious in case Viv still searched for her. But no more sightings occurred. Max turned on the Pathfinder channel just to be safe, only to hear Vetra bitching about her to Viv in what sounded like a gun fight.

She quickly shut the channel off before SAM could register her presence. They sounded preoccupied, which worked in Max’s favor. She relaxed a bit, traveling toward the nav point Bain sent her. It wasn’t far from her current location, but the deserts of Eos made meters feel much farther in the unrelenting sun and heat.

And, _fuck_ , she left her helmet on the Nomad, and her footlocker on the Tempest. Maybe her sister would be nice and drop it off for her. She shot her an email just in case, a quick, “I’m done, leave my stuff here,” setting the nav point to where Max hid from her sister. She expected an angry reply back, but totally worth it.

Max hated sand. Memories of her time on Elaadan aside, she loathed the coarse texture, the way it always found its way inside suits and clothes. And just her luck, not one but two viable planets in Andromeda were blanketed with the stuff. Fuck Viv for talking her into this forsaken galaxy. Fuck Reyes for what he did on Elaadan. And fuck Bain Massani for being compliant to the other man’s schemes.

The navpoint lead to one of the leftover units from the abandoned outpost, the door closed with a green light signaling for her to come in. She crouched before activating the lock, her gun at ready.

Shoot first. Shoot to kill. No questions. No mercy.

She ducked inside once the doors slid back, snapping shut after detecting her entry. She took cover behind a nearby desk before peering out. She spotted his shadow on the other side of distorted glass. Aiming her shot, she hit where his head lingered only a second earlier, the glass shattering under the impact. He rolled across the floor to the other side of the opening, taking advantage of a crevice from a partition that jutted out from the wall.

“You had your chance to kill Reyes but didn’t. So, why come after me?” Bain fired a shot in her direction, hitting the door’s lock, the green sparking until it disappeared altogether. They were locked in, the only way out through the wall-sized window on his side of the room.

If things weren’t serious before, they were now.

“I want him to fucking suffer before I put a bullet into his head. You? You’re part of that suffering, you complicit piece of shit.” Max fired again, her round exploding the arm of one of the couches behind him. Stuffing rained down, a snowstorm of debris left in the wake of her shot.

“Reyes is an idealist, always was. I wanted nothing to do with it, or you, so I left. You didn’t deserve what he did to you.” Another shot fired in her direction, grazing her cover. “We don't need to fight.”

“You didn’t even fucking try to warn me about what he had in store, so save it.” She hit the cabinets in front of him. Her mind registered that the outpost was an old medical facility. Maybe she could somehow use that to her advantage.

“You seemed perfectly content snorting cocaine off his cock.” The click of him reloading his pistol echoed between them. “What he did to you was despicable, but you’re no better than he is. Letting him deal drugs. Doing drugs. Getting him addicted again.” A harsh edge entered his voice at that last remark, remaining in the following, “You two deserve each other.”

“I only offered.” She checked her own clip. Fuck, she was running dangerously low, maybe only a shot or two left. She touched the knife in her boot for reassurance, then the one in her belt. “I didn’t force him, and I sure as fuck didn’t break his fucking legs.”

“No, you just tied him to the bed and electrocuted him.” Another shot ricocheted off the metal of the desk she hid behind. “Again, not that he didn’t deserve it.”

“You almost sound like you care about him.” She sunk another round into the cabinet that cut off the partition. One more left before she had to use her knife. She preferred hand-to-hand at this point, their gunfight getting them nowhere.

“He and I, it’s complicated.”

“Good. That means your death will hurt him even fucking more than I planned.” She let out a slow, steady breath to calm her nerves and help her focus. She needed to get that gun out of his hands, give her a fighting chance with her blades. “I think it’s time we ended this, don’t you agree?”

The nose of his gun peeked out of his cover. “I told you before, I don’t want to kill you.”

“That should make this easy then.” She rounded the corner, taking her shot at his gun, knocking it out of his grip as it skated across the room. That spent her ammo; she tossed her empty pistol to the side and drew the combat knife from her boot in one long, fluid motion.

Bain managed to jump to his feet before her charge, his forearm raised to obstruct her aim for his unhelmeted head. Her wrist connected with his arm as she struggled to bring it the rest of the way down. She didn’t notice his free hand until it seized her wrist, tightening to force her to drop her weapon. His other hand, now freed from defending itself, grabbed hers, struggling to hold her back.

Now that he held the upper hand, he twisted her so that her arms pulled across her chest, forcing her into submission, her back pressed into his chest. She slammed her heel down, but he drew his foot back, waiting for both of her feet to land on the floor before spreading her legs apart with his knees so that the toe of his boots could restrain her from any further types of resistance.

She grunted as she struggled against him, desperate to break free and resume their fight. “Let me go, you fucking coward.”

His voice low, breath hot in her ear, “While I admire your initiative, this is where it has to end,” he murmured, shooting delicious chills down her spine.

Now there was a thought. She wondered if he fucked as well as he fought, her tongue darting out to wet her painted lips as she entertained the idea. And it could give her the upper hand, a chance to grab one of her other knives or maybe her knuckles and inflict some damage.

“What are you going to do with me?” She rolled her hips back into his, eliciting a low groan from his throat.

“What do you want me to do with you?”

A wicked grin spread over her lips. “I’m not opposed to the idea of you shoving me against the wall and fucking me.”

He laughed, a rumble in his chest that she felt through both their armor. “And I’m supposed to ignore the other knives you’ve no doubt hidden beneath your clothes?”

“Not just knives,” she said, earning her a chuckle. “But you’ve won. I can be a graceful loser when I want to be. Besides,” she leaned back into him, shifting her ass into his groin to the best of her ability, “there’s more than one way to hurt a Charlatan.”

He bent his head, nipping at the skin along her neck on the shorn side of her head. “You must think all men are idiots, only ruled by our dicks.”

“Can’t blame a girl for trying.” She threw her head back to rest on his shoulder. The aching in her body built the longer they stayed in this position. She needed to shake him, figure out her next tactic. Her adrenaline still thrummed under her skin, enticed by their close contact, continuing to flood her senses from their fight. “So, what now?”

“Now, I tie you up and take my leave. I can’t risk having you follow me.”

She shook her head. “No restraints, no way.” Her mind flashed to the last time someone bound her limbs, the same reason she now tried to kill Bain for.

“Sorry, hummingbird. You don’t leave me much of a choice.” With careful precision, he forced the back of her knees to bend with his, kneeling her first to the floor then onto her stomach, the weight of his body holding her down. He maneuvered both hands to the small of her back, clutching them together in one while she listened to him open up one of the pouches on his belt. He clicked what sounded like omni-cuffs around her hands, then repeated the action to her ankles before standing up.  

She craned her neck up to glare at him from the floor as he hovered above her, admiring his handiwork. “Nothing personal,” he said, a grin on his face when their eyes connected. He stooped to grab his gun from where it landed on the floor, clipping it back into his holster.

“What, no goodbye kiss,” she teased while biting into her bottom lip as she batted her eyelashes.

The melancholy expression on his face fell away as he kneeled down in front of her, a hand fisting into her hair to drag her head up. She grimaced against the pain that blossomed in her scalp and back, but then his mouth covered hers, the hunger in his kiss awakening the ravenous quality of her own, though both kept their tongues to themselves out of self preservation. She nipped his bottom lip, sucking it between her teeth when he tried to withdraw.

Still holding her at eye level, both their breaths staggered with the sheer force and intensity of the kiss, he said, “Next time we meet, if you don’t try to kill me, we’ll see about that fuck.”

The bloody color of her lipstick smeared around his mouth, his dark eyes entertaining with a savage glint to them.

 


End file.
